Copyright and 3D printers

Some interesting comments and predictions about 3D printing in the article below by Denis McEvoy. Just as we can now legally download movies and get digital TV or get pirated content via Pirate Bay, there will probably some form of dualism in the 3D printing sphere: either you can get a copyrighted 3D model you can print on a sanctioned 3D printer within a sanctioned ecosystem, a la App Store, or a free market where you can download objects for free that are either copyrighted or not. The latter already exists (Pirate Bay's Physibles)... (The intersection between copyright and 3D printing was already covered in this earlier post.)

This technology will completely change the world beyond any of our comprehensions. The effects will be extreme and wide-ranging. Over a relatively short space of time most factories could become useless, thousands of jobs would be lost and shipping and post would reduce dramatically. 

The new system of downloading everything from your food to condoms will likely see piracy remain as a major problem. Companies will probably sell us the digital blueprints of the items we want and then we'll make them in our next-generation printer. This will leave every possible product open to being pirated. How that will be curbed is something few people have even begun to think about.

Printing a new iPhone, a pair of runners - or even your dinner (Joe.ie)

Apple and 3D Printers: why I don't think it's going to work

I wrote about 3D printing and Apple a long time ago (Death to Centralized Manufacturing). The Atlantic thinks that Apple could benefit from putting out a 3D printer. I'd say the same, only I don't think Apple would want to sell it as a product: much rather they would use a 3D printer to make parts or even whole products using a 3D printer. If it becomes possible to print, say, an iPhone, then why would they sell a device that could potentially undermine their business?

Already Apple is using specialized machines (with lasers and all) to mill the aluminum bodies of MacBook Pros, iMacs and iPhones--in the MacBook Pro case, they went with the same machines for production as during the design and prototyping phase. And their subcontractor Foxconn is already talking about replacing workers with robots in the manufacturing process. So if 3D printing is not in the cards for Apple yet then definitely full-scale automation.

If a former-raver and artist could find fun and value in the $1,100 machine, maybe a lot of people might. And he did. "It took me a week to assemble my Makerbot, but remember that when Jobs and Wozniak and those guys first started out, you had to make your own computer," he said. "Now they're in your pocket. That's where I think this is headed." (Are you listening, Apple?)

Why Apple Should Start Making a 3D Printer Right Now (The Atlantic)

3D printed Hilbert curve using two types of ink

This Hilbert curve approximation serves more as a test "to produce objects with overhanging parts that are currently very difficult, or impossible, for them to print" using two types of ink (PVA and PLA). After dissolving the former, the latter remains.

Next up, a Menger sponge?

Approximating the Hilbert curve with 3D printers (BoingBoing via Thingiverse)

The Pirate Bay offers models of physical objects for download

A pirate-ship model can be printed out from a physible file, now hosted on The Pirate Bay.

(Screenshot by Luke Hopewell/ZDNet Australia) 

ThePirateBay.org, everyone's go-to site for torrent downloads, has ventured into offering 3D models ("physibles") that users can print at home (whether copyrighted or not):

We believe that the next step in copying will be made from digital form into physical form. It will be physical objects. Or as we decided to call them: Physibles. Data objects that are able (and feasible) to become physical. We believe that things like three dimensional printers, scanners and such are just the first step. We believe that in the nearby future you will print your spare sparts for your vehicles. You will download your sneakers within 20 years.

Make sure to rinse out the plastic residues: 3D printer prints chocolate, cheese

I predict a rise in algorithmically generated cupcakes... Imagine the endless possibilities (this will be a hoot in the wedding cake industry I'm sure!)

Imagine 3D is not your regular printer as its syringes may be filled with chocolate. Yes, a chocolate-flavoured print job that Essential Dynamics is hoping would find a market as it pushes for 3D printing.

It’s not just chocolate that the printer’s syringe may be filled with, you may also add cheese, silicone, epoxy and concrete tom make your printed copy more life-like.

The Imagine 3D, unique as it is, will set you back a whopping $3,000. If you’re really that much of a chocolate lover or love making new stuff and have cash to spare, then this might get your attention.

3D Printer Now Includes Chocolates, Cheese (Geeky Gadgets via Gizmodo via PSFK via Essential Dynamics)